Billy Bragg
Album: Life's A Riot With Spy Vs Spy (30th Anniversary Edition)
Label: Cooking Vinyl
Tracks: 15
Website: http://www.billybragg.co.uk

To celebrate his 30th anniversary of his debut recording of Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy; Mr Billy Bragg has produced a special album that features tracks from the original that have been re mastered and a new live solo section that Billy Bragg recorded at London in the Union Chapel this year.
Fans of Billy Bragg are not to be worried, just because the album has been re mastered I can assure you that the quality has not been lost. I remember from studying Billy Bragg as a part of my A Level Performing Arts course.
Billy Bragg is and will always be in my eyes a Political Performer, his songs defiantly have an effect on me. He is not afraid to speak his mind and express it through the art of music. Billy Bragg is a talented musician, granted his voice is not the best in the world. However it is not what he is about, he is all about getting that message across rather than all that perfecting of the vocals.
I am sorry to rant on here but that's the effect you get when listening to Billy Bragg's new album. Not many singers, especially in the pop industry have songs that really make a statement or sing about a subject that is particularly relevant to today's society. It's all about break ups and make ups today. So it is refreshing to be listing to a piece of music that actually has some oomph about it, Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy still holds that classic gusty personality that Billy Bragg has.

With the distorted guitar and the atmospheric reverb you can't go wrong with this album. Tracks that include The Busy Girl Buys Beauty and one of my favourites Lovers Town Revisited, the album still contains that folky/ rocky genre to it. His songs are simple, he uses pop culture references and still has that sarcy tone of voice when signing which makes him even more memorable.

Gemma Hirst